The 6th Column
by phoenixforce50
Summary: A Spartan is called up to replace a fallen comrade, but he has other things to do first.
1. Chapter 1: Six

Disclaimer: I do not own Halo. All rights reserved to 343 Industry.

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**Chapter 1: Six**

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He was on his last mission with a team of marines that he knew well. He was a good leader but always preferred the front line, taking on the enemy with his own hands, normally by himself. He was a Spartan III, equipped with MJOLNIR armour and a standard issue M392 Designated Marksman Rifle and M6G Magnum pistol. He was a genetically enhanced cybernetic super-soldier, one of few since the arrival of the Covenant, a group of multiple alien species who see humanity as heretics to their religion. They have made short work of most of the human's military and space ships, reducing the human fleet to only a few ships scattered throughout the colonies. The Spartan had a name and a call-sign, but he was just called in to replace a fallen Spartan from NOBLE team who gave his life to destroy a Covenant carrier in a suicide run, just as he was shipping out. His marines, in reference to his soon-to-be role, now referred to him as 'Noble Six' or shortened, 'Six.' It was a term he would have to get used to, he thought as he stared out at the rapidly shrinking planet through the window.

"Hm…" mused one of the marines by the name of Sherman. "I wonder what the rest of NOBLE Team is like."

"I heard that they work fluidly and strike with power and efficiency." said another as he slid a cloth down his dismantled rifle. Dirt and impurities dropped to the ground, revealing the letters etched into the scope: 'property of Brandeis, u touch u die.' "It could just be rumours, but I heard they've got a woman in there."

"Hey!" retorted another marine, a woman named Springett who had flowing brown hair and bright emerald eyes that shone in the night. "What have you got against women, huh?!"

"Nothing! I was just…sayin'…eheheheheheh, uh…"

"I heard that they're some of the best Spartans around," interrupted Sherman, deflating the rising tension like a pin through a balloon. "All of them have great field records. Or so I've heard."

"He's right though, they do have a female Spartan in NOBLE team." said a large, bulky and shaven marine named Logan, who was sitting opposite Sherman "Think her name was Kat or something like that. Medical file from that last mission said she got a cybernetic right arm."

"As if they weren't robotic enough…" came a muffled reply from a small man named Wallace, who flicked his finger towards Six. If Six noticed, he didn't respond.

Six kept his mouth shut through the conversation. It was as if speaking was a capital offence in the military. But then again, one did not become one of the world's hyperlethal Spartan by engaging in a friendly conversation with a passer-by.

"Alright everybody," came a voice through the comlink "we're dropping you in ODST-style, so we'll let you know when you need to get to the drop pods. Riley out."

"Sir, this is going to be a long trip. We might as well take leave," said another marine named Clegg who'd just walked up to Six "no point staying here. Know what I mean?"

The Six rubbed his neck, his palm brushing on the UNSC tattoo. A present from the Chief.

"Fine," he said simply, advancing to his post

The marine smiled smugly. "Quiet as always."


	2. Chapter 2: Ambush

Disclaimer: This is not endorsed by 343 Industries nor am I an employer of said company (btw, this applies to all chapters)

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**Chapter 2: Ambush**

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Six days later…

"Alright fellas, to the drop pods!" came the voice through the coms. "The Pelicans have cleared a nice little landing zone, but them covenant bastards' got our birds under fire. Let's go!"

Six ran through the corridor towards the drop pods. Though not a word was said, the marines under his command understood his wishes, hurrying their preparation. He reached the pods, swiping a DMR along with an assault rifle off the racks as he went. Several scattered ammunition clips fell as he went.  
Against regulation, the Spartan neglected to strap on his harness and slapped the 'launch' button before the order was given. The pod sealed itself and rocketed out of the ship, towards the planet Mamore below at MACH 2 speed. He rattled through the upper atmosphere, his altimeter dropped rapidly: 10 000 metres, 8000, 5000, 2000. Numbers flicked passed each other, a blur to the human eye. A button flashed and the Spartan hit it hard. Four powerful air brakes deployed with a menacing hiss, slowing the pod's descent. A split second later, the pod landed with a bone-jarring crunch embedding itself into the ground. Six kicked out the panel in front of him, holding his assault rifle out in front of him, alert to every movement. More pods rained around him, some charred or in pieces from the heavy plasma cannons of the Phantoms that intercepted the Pelicans. Six got his bearings, waited for the ringing in his ears to stop, and did a headcount of his marines; 6 out of 8. Not perfect, but it was a start.

His comlink crackled to life and he could hear the marines checking in systematically. A flash of blue and his visor's HUD came online and linked to his weapons, displaying ammunition and an aiming reticule.

"Spartan, take your men through the city. The others will meet you on the west side of downtown." came Riley's voice through the comlink. The Spartan moved forward to where his marines were gathered.

"We're moving downtown," he said simply. "Reinforcement will meet us there."

"Roger." Came the general reply.

The marines moved through the city, eyeing each of the buildings warily, as if each was a sleeping giant as if disturbing them would spell doom for them all. In the distance, there was the rhythmic sound of mortar bombings echoing through the huge valley in which the city was located.

"Sir, I don't like this, I keep getting the feeling something's gonna jump out at us." whispered the brown haired woman who was taking up the rear.

"You and me both, man." replied Logan.

"Just keep your eyes open and your guns up." retorted Sherman.

"And do you know where I'd like to shove my gun up right now?" sneered Clegg, who was tired of hearing the same old proverb over and over again.

"What was that, private?!" yelled Sherman

"Nothing sir!"

"Uh huh, that's what I thought, noth-"

Six raised his hand. There was silence immediately.  
"Hostiles," he murmured, just loud enough for the marines to make out.

All the marines stopped dead still and listened. They could just make out the sound of what sounded like-

"Ghost!" yelled Logan as a smooth purple hovering vehicle with aerofoils at the front, zoomed into the street from around the corner.

Piloting it was a small, bipedal alien known as an Unggoy or a Grunt. As it came around, it spotted The Spartan and his marines and gave a small yelp of surprise and screamed "Humans!" as it did so, a group of Kig-yar, or Jackals, rushed out from behind the building they were waiting behind.

"Fantastic," grumbled Sherman. "Just as we were getting chummy with each other."


	3. Chapter 3: Hot Work

**Chapter 3: Hot Work**

The marines scattered and took up defensive position around the wreckages of civilian vehicles and fired at the Ghost and its escort. The Jackals, with their personal shields, easily deflected the bullets but the Grunt was not so lucky. It took a bullet to the head and toppled off the Ghost backwards, methane leaking out of its breathing apparatus. Six saw this and an idea came to his mind.

"Hold your fire," he ordered through his com.

"Hold our fire?!" asked Wallace exasperated. "Why the hell woul-"  
"Shut your mouth, Private!" Sherman yelled. "Do what your seargent tells you to do."  
"I see what he's trying to do," said Logan "I got this guys."

Logan rolled out from behind the car he was behind and stood up shouting "Hey, Covenant bastards, prick me with your sting"

The Jackals couldn't understand him but they shot at him anyway. Wallace ran to an abandoned office block across the street, dodging plasma bolts as he went. The Jackals, angry that their prey had escaped, followed him towards the building. As they stepped over their fallen comrade, the Spartan took the shot. The unsuspecting Jackals never knew what hit them, one minute they were following a human into a structure, the next there was some kind of explosion that knocked them all off their feet. Three out of the four were killed in the explosion but the lead one was blown towards Six; he didn't miss a beat. He drew his trusty combat knife just as the Jackal came flying at him and thrust it right through its neck. As it came out the other side, there was a bit of resistance due to the bony plate on the back of its neck. Slowly, the marines came out from their respective hiding places.

"Eww…" said Clegg, cringing. "I could never get used killing these guys in close-quarters."

Nothing else was said for several second, then, "I call the Ghost!".

The marines whirled to face the owner of the voice, a young-looking marine by the name of Brandeis. "What?" he asked. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"You'll be on recon duty from now on," ordered the Spartan. "Maintain communications."

"Alrighty then. It's been AGES since I got to ride on one of these". Brandeis hopped into the floating vehicle and shot off into the distance.


	4. Chapter 4: Drastic Measures

**Chapter 4: Drastic Measures**

As the marines progressed towards downtown, the city began to seem even more lifeless; if that was even possible. Brandeis kept them updated with whatever was ahead and they managed to avoid any more Covenant patrols when all of a sudden-

"Six! Are you receiving me? Oh god they're everywhere! Six, if you can hear me, get to downtown ASAP! We managed to lure the Covies away from the Hogs so take 'em and get outta here!"

Six stopped still for a second, trying to take the information in. then said to the marines

"Marines, we gotta go right now! Brandeis, sitrep!"

"Negative sir, I just found a Covenant convoy, and it's blocking the main roads. We'll have to take an alternate route. I saw a back street on the way in, it's just southeast of your position."

"Copy that, we'll meet you there. This way marines!"

Six led his marines to the side street where Brandeis was waiting.

"This way guys, we can get there quicker if we jump over the railing on the bridge."

Brandeis gestured towards the collapsed pedestrian bridge just up ahead.

The marines ran up to the bridge and jumped through the already broken safety rail on the side and slid down the rubble, down to the highway. Six, however, stayed back, for a bit. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of blue between two skyscrapers which was followed by a plasma explosion that took down a building. "Wait," thought Six "if that blast just took down a building, it must pack a hell of a punch. What kind of vehicle has that kind of firepo- oh, oh crap, we're dead." Six caught up with the marines shouting

"Guys, move it! The bastards brought a Scarab with them!"

"Wait, what? Why would they need a Scarab here?" asked Springett

"I don't know and frankly, I don't care. Right now, I just want to get the hell out of here."

replied Sherman absent-mindedly.

The marines hurried along the highway towards downtown where the other group of marines where in the fight for their lives. They had been ambushed by an Elite strike team led by a Zealot class Sangheili, or Elite, wielding an energy sword. The Covenant forces had quickly overrun the marines and forced them to retreat. The marines, in order to continue the mission, had retreated in such a way so that the team led by Six could still get to the Warthogs. Six and his team circled the Elite's team and silently climbed into the Warthogs. Except, one of them was no ordinary Warthog, instead of having a standard LRV: M41 12.7mm LAAG machine gun turret, the Warthog on the right was equipped with a prototype M68: 25mm ALIM gauss cannon, experimental technology in which the projectile is launched at super-high speeds using a magnetic coil to accelerate it. The result of which is an extremely powerful gun for its size which can pierce armour as easily as a bullet can pierce skin.

Logan and Clegg took the respective turrets and rained hell on the Jackals around the Elite. The Elite, caught by surprise, took a few seconds to draw a gun to fire back and in the ensuing chaos, lost most of its over-shield before it managed to pull out a concussion rifle and fire it. By that time, though, the Warthogs had gunned it towards the Elite and the last trace of it was a guttural crunch as the Warthog slammed into it, tow-cable hooks, 'tusks,' first and then rolled over it, crushing it instantly. The remaining marines came out and called for an emergency evacuation for their wounded. Six's team had already driven out towards the western part of the city.

Suddenly, Six had another idea. He keyed his commanding officer's channel

"Sir, what exactly are we doing here? I know that we're part of a counter-insurgency effort, but why did the Covenant come here in the first place? The artefact was deactivated and extracted when the Insurrectionists attacked, wasn't it?"

"You are not the first person to ask me that today. And in truth, I don't know why the Covenant chose this planet specifically to attack but I have received word that there is a Scarab in the area, is this true?"

"Yes sir. I saw it in the distance before. It was firing at buildings in the upper-class district."

"Did you see any civilians?"

"No, it's truly a ghost town."

"Good, get out of there now. We're going to bomb that city and hopefully destroy that Scarab. We can't just let it wander into another into a populated area, the results would be catastrophic."

"Sir, I must protes-"

"There is no argument; we are bombing the city in exactly; 0037 hours. You are to report to co-ordinates 198.46 by 250.1."

"Roger that sir." finished Six and closed the channel.


	5. Chapter 5: Liftoff

**Chapter 5: Lift-off**

Six and his marines arrived at what appeared to be a large ONI airbase; except for the large Sabre launch site on the far side and the Covenant Wraiths bombarding it with their plasma mortars. The marines pulled up their Warthogs on top of the ridge that overlooked the base, and proceeded to fire upon the Covenant forces below. One of the two Wraiths pulled away and started firing at them but Six had been expecting this and reversed the Warthog away from the shot. Instead, it hit the pile of rocks that had been piled there before which now tumbled down the ridge, closely followed by the two Warthogs. The rocks flattened most of the Covenant infantry and damaged both Wraiths heavily, the first one losing its anti-gravity generator, rendering it immobile. The marines continued to fire and soon all of the aliens were lying dead and the Wraiths disabled. The thick doors that separated the base from the rest of the world slowly opened and out came a company of ONI operatives, all armed, pointing their guns at Six and his marines.

"Whoa, hey! We're on your side!" exclaimed Clegg as he raised his hands above his head.  
The ONI men lowered their weapons and escorted them through the base towards the command centre without a word. As they entered a squat man in military uniform came up to them and said loudly

"I'm Colonel Harper. Now I don't know where you guys came from but you look human and you just got rid of the covenant that were attacking our front door, so that's good enough reason for me to let you in. Now could one of you tell me what is going on here?"

"We're not entirely sure ourselves sir. We were just ordered to take out the Covenant troops in the city and rendezvous at the UNSC base but we were redirected here." explained Sherman.  
Harper opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by one of the men at a console

"Sir! We have multiple Covenant interceptors on approach; I'm reading a massive strike force heading straight for us."

Harper rested his forehead on his palm. Why did these things always happen on his watch? "They probably wanted to take out the first line of defence against an aerial attack. You, Spartan, can you fly?"

"Only on training, sir," he replied bluntly.

"Well, today will be your lucky day."

***

"Launch sequence initiated. T-30 seconds and counting." came the emotionless voice through the PA system. A bead of sweat fell from his forehead. How uncharacteristic. It was a long time since he felt so nervous. So scared. He quickly drowned out the rising tension. He was about to be launched into space inside several tons of heavy metal at a hundred miles an hour, now was not the time to be distracted by a pretty-looking cloud.

"You OK up there?" asked the co-pilot behind him.

"I'm fine," said Six.

"T-10 seconds and counting. 9, 8, 7, 6,"

Six fingered the steering mechanism, checking the complicated readings to make sure everything was working.

"5, 4, 3,"

Six buckled up quickly. Better not take chances.

"2, 1. Launch sequence complete, commencing booster ignition."

There was an almighty roar and the Sabre rose several hundred meters into the air, towards the oncoming Covenant fleet. The actual journey to the upper atmosphere was over quicker than expected and Six found himself staring at the endless vista that was space with a something that was a cross between awe and horror. Horror because he realised that he could die out here in a matter of seconds, an insignificant speck against the endlessness that was space. The Sabre's com system came online and individual orders were given. Six was told to head to the front line so he keyed his afterburners at full and proceeded to head towards what could be his endless grave.


	6. Chapter 6: Contact

**Chapter 6: Contact**

Alarms blared. Hull integrity was still at 100% but the shields were gone, making them vulnerable to the enemy's bombardment. Six fought with his controls to make the Sabre turn fast enough to avoid the sizzling plasma bolts that were flying past so that the shields could recharge. Another space Banshee flew past him, chasing a Sabre. Six opened fire with a burst from his nose-mounted M1204 30mm cannons and the Banshee exploded spectacularly in a burst of purple and pink. The pilot waved his hand in thanks and sped off to resume the fight. Six was doing a fantastic job of flying for someone who had only received theory training for piloting a several-million dollar spacecraft. He had already assisted in taking down most of the Covenant squadrons. A voice came through the coms  
"Attention, all Sabre teams. We have just detected sub-light drives approaching your position, and there's a carrier on its way as well. We've called for backup to handle the carrier but you'll have to take out the escort first! They'll be there in approximately one minute."  
Six brought his Sabre around and joined the others in an offensive formation.  
Several flashes of light appeared and twenty-two Seraph fighters, flanking a huge ship, dropped out of slipspace. Half of the Seraphs broke formation and headed straight for the Sabres. The Sabres, however, where prepared for this and opened fire with both cannons and Medusa missiles. Most of the Seraphs were taken down after the first volley but the remaining fourteen spread themselves out. The Sabres now resumed the cat-and-mouse chase around the sector while the carrier continued forward, seemingly oblivious to the fighting happening around it. The Seraphs had started to attack the Sabres in pairs, and they were having a hard time out-manoeuvring them. Six headed straight for the carrier's engines, with no less than three Seraphs behind him. They were hot on his tail and he couldn't shake them so he made a kamikaze run for the engines, firing all the while in an attempt to cause as much damage as possible. Six was about to enter the stream of fire pluming out the thrusters, temporarily disappearing from sight. All of a sudden, Six appeared behind the three Seraphs and fired, sending them flying, unshielded, into the exhaust. Because Six had full shields when he entered, he managed to get out with only minor damage to the hull's integrity. The Seraphs, on the other hand, were disintegrated instantly. The two Seraphs at the rear, partially shielded by their fallen comrade, impacted into the thrusters before exploding, causing massive damage due to their plasma conduits. Six glanced back at the damage caused and gave a small grin before putting his game face back on and flying to defend the UNSC Pierre which had just dropped out of slipspace and was headed straight for the Covenant fleet and flanked by more Sabres and some Pelicans. The Covenant fleet was thrown into disarray and began a hasty retreat. Six engaged to pursue but was called back to regroup. Six looked back as the Covenant carrier, too slow at this point to escape due to the extensive damage, was shot down by the Pierre and promptly exploded spectacularly in a ball of purple fire.


	7. Chapter 7: Nursing the Wounds

**Chapter 7: Nursing the Wounds**

As Six landed back at the base, Harper came up and said  
"Spartan, when you came up to this base today, I didn't think much of you, even if you were a Spartan, but now, you have earned my respect. I would gladly suggest you for a promotion."  
"Thank you, sir."  
"Don't thank me yet, we still have to get out of this mess. I've tried calling command but I haven't been able to get to anyone who can tell me what's going on."  
"I don't know, sir. There's no reason for the Covenant to attack. It only has an average amount of resources, that is if they actually use the same resources as us, and it isn't strategically important."  
Piped Sherman  
Brandeis, who was sitting quietly in the corner, slowly rose to his feet and walked over.  
"Sir," he started, "what if, I mean hypothetically, what if the Covenant made a mistake? All the assumptions you made are based on their usually perfect calculations, but what if they got it wrong? We were told to retreat in random directions if cornered, so they can only be guessing at the location of Earth. Sure they could just be looking for a foothold in our colonies, unless they're after something else that was hidden here."  
"You could be right, but the only thing they might be looking for here was removed years ago during the Insurrectionist attacks on the city." Replied Harper  
"Unless that was not the only thing they found down there." said Sherman, wide-eyed.  
"So what are we going to do?" asked Six  
"I want you and your marines to go down to the supposedly empty excavation site and see what is may be that the Covenant is looking for. I'll provide you with an ONI guard on the way there but after that you will have to go it alone."  
"What are we going to do after that, sir?" asked Sherman  
Harper turned and glared at him  
"You talk too much, you know that? It would pay to listen and speak when spoken to by your superiors."  
Chagrined, Sherman bowed his head and took a step back. All the other marines who were in the room stifled laughs.  
"If I may continue," Harper cast quick glare at Sherman "after you get a visual on whatever it is down there, you are to report back here and join operation: Reclamation with the rest of the ONI operatives. We are expecting more troops in addition to the Pierre's to assist in kicking these bastards off our planet!" with this last sentence, Harper became very animated but quickly regained his composure.  
They all stood there for about a second when the silence was broken loudly by Harper yelling "Well?! What are you all still doing here? Get over there!"


	8. Chapter 8: Down Under

**Chapter 8: Down Under**

Six and his team moved under the cover of darkness. They had set out just before sundown and could still see the abandoned city glowing in the firelight after the plasma bombardment. They reached the Falcons parked at the airfield by nightfall, Covenant patrols were scattered around the ruins of the city and they had no wish to alert them to their presence lest they find out what they were doing. The Falcons took off without incident and flew towards the excavation site. No one spoke during the flight. Some of them were too tired to be bothered with idle talk but most were concentrating on the task ahead. When they arrived at the site, no one made a sound as they approached a sealed-off area of the compound. Inside, there was an elevator with an 'out of order' sign, several desks with notes scattered around on them and statistics written on a board on a wall. Six walked over and picked up a document. It read: Tests conclusive. Primary engagements successful, however, subjects do not respond to agent and are still hostile. Suggesting commence stage three.

Six didn't understand any of it but filed the information away for later. The rest of the marines had found similar documents scattered around. Wallace was searching the desk closest to the elevator and picked up a document, scanned it quickly and was about to put it back when he saw an imperfection in the otherwise flat desk. He ran his hand over it and all of a sudden the wall behind the desk slid open with a small "ding."

"Uh, boss, I think I found something." Said Wallace, a little dumbstruck

Six walked through and patted Wallace on the back as he passed into the corridor. At the end of the corridor stood yet another elevator, although this one looked as if it had been used recently.

"Sir, I don't think we're the only ones in this building." said Sherman, worried.

Six inspected the locking mechanism on the control panel.

"Springett." He called

"On it. Just a sec." she replied and began work on the keypad on the elevator. A few minutes later, they were all inside and heading downwards at an alarming rate. As they reached the bottom of the elevator shaft, the doors opened and Six and the marines were treated to a wondrous sight: a fallen alien spaceship, half-buried under molten rock with lava pouring over the aft section. Most of it was destroyed or hidden but of what remained the ship itself was a sight to behold. On the far side of the cavern was a small research station. Six thought that it would be a good place to start looking and headed towards it. As they approached, a group of hovering drones with fins on the side flew over and started firing. The marines scattered and hid behind multiple rocks and returned fire. The drones were agile but not very smart and it was easy for the marines to herd them into another's line of fire. Soon, all of them were disabled without any injuries sustained by the marines. They continued forwards to the station and stealthily took up positions around it. Six gave a signal and bashed the door open, gun up. Inside he saw a group of extremely surprised researchers who were frozen by the sight of a seven-foot tall armoured man with a gun pointed at them standing in the doorway. A few seconds later, the researchers gathered their wits and either fled down a hall or raised their hands rapidly. Six called his marines in and one of the researchers spoke

"Excuse me; are you here to kill us?"

"No, why?" asked Six

"Well, we were told that any military intervention was likely to be lethal."

"Um, could you put that in English please?" said Logan who had just walked in

"He meant that if any soldiers came down here it would be to kill these people, stupid." retorted Springett behind him.

"Anyway, no we're not here to kill you, but-" the researcher flinched slightly "we would like some answers if you wouldn't mind."

"Ok, what do you want to know?"

"First of all, what the hell are you guys doing down here?" said Sherman loudly

"My name is Professor Zimmerman. We are a team of researchers working on project: Inheritance. It involves the investigation of the alien technology that was found crashed here for what appears to be centuries, although the technology is extremely advanced. We managed to get some of it working but very little of it is compatible with our own technology, although Covenant technology seems to work very well with it. We re-programmed the Sentinels and set them on offensive patrol of the outside, those things you destroyed outside. You'd think we would be safe, hidden in an abandoned base, miles below the surface with Sentinels guarding it and yet you managed to get past all of it. I wonder what we could have missed."

"Did you have insurance?" asked Brandeis sarcastically, leaning on the doorframe.

"Is that it? I'll be sure to ask for insurance in our next report." He hurried off to find a pen and paper to write it down.

"Uh I was joking professor."

"Oh, hehe, of course."

"So what else have you found here?" queried Six

"Well, we do have a couple of other things you might be interested in looking at. If you'll come this way please."

Zimmerman led them down a long corridor and opened a door

"We call this the map room, we found a file in the downed ship and rigged it up to a holo-projector. This is what came up. It shows the location of all the planets in the known galaxy and beyond."

"This has the location of the Covenant home worlds?" asked Six, incredulous

"Yes it probably does but we don't know which ones they are. One thing we found particularly interesting was these ring-like objects scattered around all over the place. We can't work out what they are."

"Okay, can't help you there. What else have you got?" asked Six

"Come this way and I'll show you." Once again, he led them down a corridor and opened a door. Six stepped in and took one look and was shocked at what he saw.

"What the hell have we walked into here?"


	9. Chapter 9: Inheritance

Chapter 9: Inheritance

Six watched in horror as the hulking behemoth pounded on the glass in front of him but the glass did not shatter. As he looked down the room, Six saw many of the same thing: a large, brown-green organism, that looked part animal and part… something else.  
"What is that… thing?"  
"Oh, that is a sheep that is infected with a parasite we found on the ship. It's incredible; it's sentient, resilient and is compatible with any life-form with high enough calcium levels to sustain it. It's remarkably intelligent by itself; it even has the capability to wield weaponry. We just call it 'The Organism.'"  
"And you do what with it exactly?" asked Logan  
"We test it on various forms of life. It integrates itself into the host body remarkably fast. It then takes over and gains complete motor control. It also takes some of the host's knowledge, then attempts to spread by releasing what we call the 'base form'. We have some over here," he gestured over to another containment cell. Inside were lots of small squid-like things, bouncing around the walls.  
"And these are the first stage of the infection?" queried Sherman  
"Not quite, these are the parasites. These attach themselves to a host and take over."  
"What are you doing all this for exactly?" asked Brandeis, looking slightly disgusted as a half-dog thing came up and flailed its tendrils against the glass  
"Oh, we were told to try and make them obedient. We weren't told what would happen after that."  
Six was quiet, slowly putting pieces together in his head when suddenly he spoke  
"Are you new here?" he asked  
Zimmerman blinked  
"Yes, I was on the most recent group to replace the ones who weren't careful."  
"They're planning on making these things into soldiers." Said Six. Everyone looked at him, some astonished, some, like Zimmerman, puzzled.  
"Why would you think we would make them into soldiers?"  
Clegg spoke up  
"Think about it: if they are capable of using weaponry, what if you put one of those things on a bear, or a gorilla? You got a huge, intimidating and naturally resilient beast of nature that most people would run away from at first glance; now pair that up with the fact that these things are hard to kill, spread like wildfire and can use guns . I don't think anyone will want to fight it, armed or not."  
"How did you guys know so much about this thing? It's highest clearance only." Remarked Zimmerman stunned  
"Next time don't leave your test results lying around the secret entrance." said Clegg, as he tossed some sheets of paper at Zimmerman's feet.  
Zimmerman looked down, picked up the papers and scanned them with a critical eye which widened, followed by his other eye.  
"This, this is unbelievable. I didn't think that anything like this could happen but you're right, these," he indicated the sheets in his left hand "are results from the other testing teams and these," his other hand "are military training statistics, virulence reports and endurance tests." Zimmerman put a hand to his head  
"Oh my god, what have I got myself into here? I can't just walk away, they'll find me easily. What am I going to do? What am I going to-"  
"Calm down, man. I got an idea." Said Springett  
"Ok, by 'them' I assume you mean the guys who employed you, right?"

"Right,"

"And they'll kill you if they find out you messed with their investment, right?"  
"Oh, killing me would be merciful for them."  
"So what about if we make it look like an "accident," we blow up the elevator shaft so that there is no evidence and you walk away knowing you didn't just commit a sin against nature. Waddya say?"  
"It sounds great, but how are we going to convince the others? I'm not going to just let them die."  
"Don't worry, I can be very persuasive." Said Logan, hefting his shotgun  
"Logan, you know we don't harm civilians." Sherman reprimanded  
"I wasn't going to harm them, just, rough 'em up a little. You know."  
"I have a better idea, and it involves less guns." said Clegg. He turned to Zimmerman "Hey prof, you guys got a seismograph down here?"  
"Yes, there is the occasional tremor but nothing major, why?"  
"Good, let's do some tampering."


	10. Chapter 10: Atonement

Chapter 10: Atonement

"Everybody, get out of here! The place is going to come down on us!" yelled Zimmerman as he ran through the main room  
"Why, what's wrong?" asked a female scientist looking up from her magazine.  
"The early-warning seismograph system is going of the scale! We need to get out of here! The marines are long gone by now so the elevator will be still up there so we need to move now!"  
After a few minutes organizing the rest of the staff, they all escaped and were hurtling up the shaft when an almighty boom resonated throughout the shaft, rocking the twenty-four people within.  
What had actually happened was this: Clegg had hot-wired the EWSS to go of exactly 34 minutes and twelve seconds after they had left the room. They then left the compound and began to set high explosives around the loose bits of rock, enough to cause a cave-in after the scientists had escaped. The plan went off without a hitch and soon there was nothing left of the facility or its inhabitants that could be recognised; everything was squashed flat. Of course, Six and his team had left by the time the explosions went off. As they flew off in their Falcon, the marines looked back at their handiwork in satisfaction, Six just stared, his face an impassive mask. As they returned to the ONI base, harper came out to greet them. Sherman was puzzled by the lack of protocol and let it show on his face.  
"No time for pleasantries," explained Harper "we have to get you guys out there right now. You may keep the transport to provide aerial support. Now go!"  
Six directed his pilot to head to the co-ordinates given through his HUD display. A few minutes later, they arrived at the edge of the massive canyon in which the city they were in before was located. As they approached, Six and the marines could see a battle raging in front of them. Plasma mortars rained over the human troops and Banshees ruled the skies. Six and his two Falcons started firing at the Banshees from the machine guns mounted on the sides. The Banshees were taken by surprise; they had not expected any more aerial resistance. In the confusion, three of them were taken down quickly. The rest scattered and were driven into the range of the Scorpion tanks were they were promptly shot down. Six and his marines fired upon the advancing Covenant forces, sending them back up against the edge of a ravine, near an outpost were the automatic defences added to the bullets that fell like hailstones of metal all around the Covenant troops. Soon, their numbers were reduced to a few Wraiths, as many Ghosts and Revenants that were skilled enough to avoid the onslaught, some Hunters and Jackals and whatever Banshees that escaped the first volley of gunfire Six's marines fired. The marines, ONI and the few Spartans the UNSC managed to round up to assist all proceeded to pick off all the ground forces while the Scorpions took out everything else.  
"That wasn't so hard." remarked Clegg  
"Not over yet, we still have more places to clear out, and they're all much more prepared than this one. They've already installed anti-aircraft batteries and are heavily guarded." came Harper's voice through the coms.  
"I think we should regroup and count our wounded first sir." said Brandeis.  
"OK then. Do what you will, just make sure you all get there before they manage to get any more ground."  
Six directed the pilot to land and they met up with the rest of the survivors who were assigned to the same area as they were.  
"So you're the one that's going to replace Tom. Somehow I expected you to be more talkive." commented a marine who walked up to Six. He shrugged in response and walked off to check his weapons in peace.


	11. Chapter 11: A new Day

**Chapter 11: A New Day**

After several incursions with similar efficiency, Six and his marines had gone and disabled most of the Covenant outposts, the anti-aircraft guns were disabled or destroyed and the Covenant forces had learned of the destruction of the other alien ship. Since what they came for was destroyed, the Covenant had retreated with what able ships they still had, however, there were still some Covenant stranded on Mamore, and the UNSC had sent strike teams to eradicate the stragglers. Once again, Six was on a landing pad, staring up at the huge ship looming over him. He turned back to look at his team of marines, they all stood at attention in a line. The sun was coming up behind them, making them look like they had just walked out of a blazing inferno; with their ragged and torn uniforms and sweaty faces smeared with both red and purple blood, they looked like they just walked out of Hell. A military man walked up to Six from the ship

"Ready when you are Spartan."

Six nodded and the man walked back to the ship.

Sherman spoke up "Sir, it has been an honour fighting alongside you."

"Same here sir, I have fought under lots of people but you are truly a man worthy of the title: Spartan." said Springett with a small tear in her eye.

Logan walked up to Six and grasped his arm. Six responded in turn. They both gave a curt nod and Logan stepped back

Brandeis was fidgeting and Wallace was looking at the ship while Clegg was nursing his injuries.

Six walked up to the three of them "Guys, thanks." Six turned to face the rest of them "All of you. None of this could have happened without you. Good luck for the future and keep trying to get the Covenant out of this universe." Six gave a salute; the marines all saluted simultaneously. Six turned and walked onto the ship. A few minutes later, it launched into the sky and flew off in the direction of Reach. Once again, Six looked out the window at the waving marines. He knew he would never forget them.

The End


End file.
